Archive of Our Own ^beta

His best friend, Nino, slid into the seat besides him, shadows under his eyes. “Hey, dude, are you ready for the test?” Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.

Adrien nodded. Tap-tap. “I think I’ve got everything covered.” Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap. “At the very least, I’m sure I’ll get a B.” Tap-tap-tap.

“I’ll be lucky to get a fourteen. I spent all last night cramming.” As if for emphasis, Nino yawned, eyes drooping so heavily that Adrien wouldn't be surprised if they stayed closed for the rest of the exam.

Tap-tap-tap-tap. “Maybe you shouldn’t have—”

“Oh my god, Adrien,” Alya snapped from the row behind. “Stop with the dumb pencil before I break it!”

Adrien smiled sheepishly, slowly setting the pencil down on the far edge of the desk. “Sorry, Alya. I guess I’m a little nervous.”

Alya rolled her eyes, propping her cheek against her fist. “At least you don't have siblings to keep you distracted from doing any studying. If I don't do well on this test, my mom is going to confiscate my phone, and for the sake of the Ladyblog, I can't have that.”

“I think you’ll do fine,” reassured Adrien. “You make good grades in this class; how hard can one exam be?”

Marinette slumped through the classroom doors, her pigtails limp and coming undone. Where a healthy glow usually adorned her fair skin, his classmate took on a worrying shade of grey.

She looks just as bad as Nino, Adrien noted, if not worse.

“I overslept,” she merely stated, falling into her chair. “Hours of French literature last night… and then physics this evening for tomorrow… Alya, save me,” the girl whined, leaning her chin on her friend’s shoulder.

Alya patted her hair. “I don't think I’ll be able to help you study. Sorry, Mari, but I’d be lucky to get some done on my own.”

Marinette sniffed. Adrien watched as she pulled an energy drink can and a pink thermos from her school bag. Marinette popped open the can’s tab, unscrewed the thermos lid (the smell wafting from the bottle was of strong coffee) and unceremoniously dumped the contents of the energy drink into the coffee. Adrien could only gape at the girl as she looked him dead in the eye and said, “I’m going to die,” before knocking back the cup.

“Mari, honey,” clucked Alya, “are you sure that's a good idea?’

“No.”

Nino nodded. “Can I get some of that?” Marinette handed him the thermos, sitting unnaturally still as she faced the board with a vacant expression.

Adrien’s eyes widened. He didn't recognize this version of Marinette. Oh, what stress can do to a person.

Nino handed back the thermos, hands shaking. Marinette accepted it, taking a long sip of the horrendous beverage.

“That is the worst thing I have ever had the misfortune of drinking, but it worked. I have never been more awake.” Nino blinked several times, turning back around in his seat and glaring at his desk.

Adrien swallowed. Marinette downed another gulp, then one more. Her chest fluttered at a faster rate, pupils dilated. “M-Marinette… I think you’ve had enough of that… thing.”

Marinette pulled her gaze to his. Her blue eyes flashed with reckless energy. “I can't. Test... I need—I need to—”

Adrien swiped the thermos from her clutches, plucking the lid from her desk and screwing it back around the top of the drink. “What you need is some proper help! Drink some water or something. If you want, I can help you with physics after school because you can't do this!”

Marinette flushed red, rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands. “Oh, gosh,” she groaned, “you’re right. Ugh, what am I doing?”

Alya gave Adrien a small smile and a thumbs up. Thanks, she mouthed.

As Marinette left to get some water from the fountain in the hall, Adrien stuck the thermos in his bag, intending to return it (empty) to the girl, later.

Nino stood up, his tongue darting out to lick his lips. “You know what?” he blurted out quickly, “I think I’m going to get some water, too.” Nino zipped out the door, leaving Adrien and Alya together.

“Poor Marinette,” Adrien lamented, shaking his head. “Is she usually like this around exam days?”

Alya sighed, brows furrowed in worry. “Not this bad. There must be a lot on her plate if she's resorting to drinking anything and everything to keep her awake. I’m glad you offered to help her today. She could really use it.”

“It’s no problem. Physics is my best subject.”

Alya smiled. “Good for you, smarty pants. I want to see Marinette with a full twenty, so you try not to disappoint, okay?”

“Oui, Mademoiselle,” Adrien chuckled. “Though, give Marinette some credit. She’s intelligent all on her own. A little push is all she needs.”

Alya’s eyes twinkled. “She sure is. Oh, here she comes now.”

Marinette walked into the room, a hand pressed against her forehead. “How long until the testing session starts?”

“The professor said in a few minutes,” supplied Alya. Marinette nodded and flopped onto her seat, looking slightly better.

Soon after, Nino returned, sighing. “Good luck, dudes. Let's see who survives exam week.”

The professor started the session, and for the next hour and a half, the only thing heard in the room was the scratching of pencils and the droning ticking of the clock.

After all testing materials had been collected, the professor allowed the students to converse quietly between themselves.

Marinette groaned, dropping her head on the table. “I didn't get a lot of the questions. I could have sworn the second passage was about the girl being sad that winter is coming because her flowers would wilt.”

“The coming of the cold season symbolizes death and depression, actually.” Alya rubbed Marinette’s back comfortingly. “It’s okay, I'm sure you did well enough to pass.” Marinette mumbled to herself dejectedly.

Adrien spoke up. “So, do you want my help studying? We could do it together if you're not feeling too confident about your skills.”

The girl’s head snapped up, red splashed across her cheeks. “O-oh, right you did offer, earlier. Well, uh, I.…” Alya nudged her with an elbow, sparking Marinette to finish with a “Y-yeah, that’d be grood! Er, great—good—” she covered her face with her hands. “I mean, yes, thank you.”

Adrien smiled, sympathy for Marinette’s stuttering disposition. He suspected he intimidated her; his dad was an important figure in the career field of her dreams. How could she not be nervous around him?

“It’s no problem! Maybe having a study partner is just the thing you need. I’m pretty good in physics, if I do say so myself.”

“I’m sure you are,” Marinette agreed, smiling softly.

“All right, well, do you mind coming to my place at five? I’ve got a photo-shoot right after school up until then. Sound good?”

Marinette nodded furiously. “Yep!”

Adrien winked. “Great, I’ll help you get that twenty tomorrow.”

The limo pulled up at the front of the Agreste mansion, letting Adrien off right by the gate. It was almost twenty minutes before five, and Marinette had not appeared to have arrived yet. Using this time, Adrien dashed to his room to straighten up.

He was not a generally messy person, but his bedroom smelled faintly of cheese and it wouldn’t hurt to tidy.

Plagg floated around amiably, making offhand comments such as “you missed a spot” or “I’m sure you wouldn’t want that girl to see those boxers by the bed” to which Adrien suspected was a rare sign of assistance from the kwami.

Someone knocked on his bedroom door, and when Adrien went to open it, there was Nathalie, standing stiffly.

“Yes?” he prompted.

“A visitor is here, Adrien. A girl name Marinette?”

Adrien smiled. “That’s right, I invited her here to study this morning. I’ll let her in myself, thanks.”

“Yes, sir,” replied his father’s assistant, turning away to head back to her office.

Adrien quickly sprayed the room with air freshener (he worried that he might have gotten too used to the smell of cheese, masking what might be a strong odor) and dashed to the front gates to welcome Marinette to his house.

Adrien spotted Marinette standing by, hands clasped behind her back, her pink school bag hanging at her side. Buzzing open the iron-wrought gates, he waved to the girl. “Hi, Marinette. Do you mind if we study in my room?”

Marinette nodded. “Uh, yeah, t-that’s fine with me.” She gave him a wide smile, a little too forced.

Adrien led his classmate through the mansion. The sound of their footsteps echoed through the vacant halls. Marinette didn’t speak. He wasn’t sure if she was admiring the interior or too nervous to break the silence.

Pushing open his bedroom doors, Adrien waved the girl inside. “After you,” he offered.

Marinette stepped inside. He followed after her, only to run into her back. Adrien apologized, but Marinette was hardly paying any attention to the boy.

“This is your room?” she gasped, eyeing the extravagant furnishings.

Adrien peered over her shoulder, trying to discern the focus of her attention. Marinette’s eyes scanned the room, lingering on the entertainment stations in the back, the four computer monitors, and the second floor lined with hundreds of books.

“Do you like it?” When Adrien had first brought Nino into his bedroom, the blonde had been met with a similar response. As it turns out, not every teenager has a rock-climbing wall and personalized dancing machine in their home.

Coming out of her surprised trance, Marinette nodded. “It’s… super cool!” She walked to the center of the room and turned around to face Adrien. “You’ve got a lot of trophies. You must be amazing at fencing, Adrien.”

He smiled humbly. “Thank you. I’ve been fencing for a while, and I go to many competitions. It’s a useful skill to have.”

Marinette cocked her head. “Really? I can’t imagine many situations where you’d need fencing.”

Adrien paused. Fencing came in handy when fighting as Chat Noir, but his classmate didn’t know they were one in the same. “Well, uh, it keeps me fit. Yeah! And I could use it as self defense.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right.”

Adrien loosed a breath. A faint snickering could be heard—Plagg. He hoped the kwami would keep himself out of trouble while Marinette was here.

Marinette fiddled with the strap of her bag. “So… should we get started?”

“Yes, of course. Go ahead and have a seat. I’ll be back with some stuff.” Adrien answered and gestured to the pristine white couch.

As Marinette began pulling materials from her bag, Adrien dashed up the spiral staircase to the second floor, pulling study books from the shelves.

Plagg appeared and landed on the top of his small stack of physics guides. “No cheese?” the kwami complained. Adrien sighed and shook his head, not wanting the aroma of smelly cheese to agitate Marinette. “What am I supposed to do for the rest of the evening?”

“You can stay out of view silently,” the boy suggested, “just for a few hours. Is going outside even an option?”

Plagg didn’t reply, and instead drifted away, grumbling about an empty stomach and eternal boredom.

Satisfied with his selection, Adrien returned to where Marinette sat waiting and lay the books on the coffee table.

“All right,” he said, hands on his hips. “Let’s get to work.”

The two teens studied diligently for an hour, going through dozens of note cards, pages and pages of notes, and too many chapters of science text to count, before stopping for a break.

Marinette pressed the palms of her hands to her eyes. “I don’t know if I can remember all of this,” she sighed doubtfully.

Adrien placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to rememberall of it, just the key points and important equations. Sure, there are quite a few, but if you narrow everything down, it’s not as much as it seems.”

The girl squirmed, thumbing through a pile of cards. Adrien could tell she was still worried and even a bit stressed. Hoping to relieve some of the weight from her shoulders, he suggested, “Would you like to eat dinner here, or are your parents expecting you? I could ask the chef to cook for two.”

Marinette hesitated, cheeks tinged pink. She turned to smile shyly at him. “I-I would like that very much, thanks.”

Adrien beamed. “Super! Is there anything you’d like to eat in particular? I’ll fetch you a menu if you need one.”

“A... menu?” Marinette looked baffled at the idea of an in-home dinner menu. “No, that’s okay. I guess we can have… spaghetti?”

“Spaghetti it is. I’ll let the chef know.” Adrien pressed a silver button on the wall and said into the intercom, “May we have spaghetti for two, please? Thank you.” He turned back to find Plagg zipping around an oblivious Marinette. Adrien swore his heart had stopped beating before pumping faster in panic. Plagg! What are you doing?

Marinette looked up at Adrien and furrowed her brow in concern. “Adrien? Are you all right?”

Swallowing hard, he replied, “I’m fine.” Adrien tried not to stare at the mischievous kwami flying somersaults through the door above his classmate. In this mind, he cursed out the creature so foully, he would have put soap in his own mouth.

As Plagg began inching closer to Marinette’s head, Adrien exclaimed, “Do you want to try out the rock-climbing wall?” Anything to keep her from noticing his kwami.

Marinette blinked. “Yeah, sure.” Leaving her purse on the couch, she walked over to the base of the wall and set her feet on the first holds.

“Do you need the harness?” Adrien asked. He quickly scanned the room for Plagg, who was currently riding a roll of toilet paper like an acrobat on a ball.

“No, I think I’ve got it.” There was a vaguely familiar gleam in the girl’s eyes that sent a not-unpleasant shiver down his spine. He was prepared to catch Marinette—or, at least, soften her fall—as she scaled the wall with almost unnatural ease, as if she did this every day. In a quick, fluid motion, she jumped from the wall to the second floor, pumping a fist in the air.

For a moment, Adrien had forgotten about Plagg and was transfixed on his surprisingly agile classmate. “Wow! Great job, Marinette. I’ll meet you up there.” He scurried up the wall quickly, hopping down besides the grinning girl. “That was fun, no? Where did you learn to climb like that?”

Marinette avoided his gaze and mumbled a string of indistinguishable words. She moved to stand by the glass barrier, looking out the floor-to-ceiling windows. “This is kind of like the balcony above my room, but, you know, indoors.” She frowned, then, pointing to a long trail of white on the floor. “Is that toilet paper?”

Burning red, Adrien opened his mouth to reply when he noticed Plagg phasing through the floor beside Marinette’s feet. He gulped and blurted out, “I’ll race you downstairs!”

Marinette hesitated in confusion before turning on her heel, hurrying towards the staircase.

As soon as her back was facing him, Adrien pointed a finger at the kwami. “Plagg, stop that,” he scolded in a hushed voice. “Marinette is going to think I’m weird.” Adrien climbed down the wall, jumping the last few feet and beating the girl to the ground floor with but a second to spare.

Marinette’s face was flushed from running. “That was, er… fun?”

Adrien winced and rubbed his neck. If Plagg was acting on some sort of stay-put-with-no-cheese revenge, whatever he was trying to accomplish seemed to be working. “Uh, yeah…”

Marinette brushed her bangs from her eyes. She looked like she wanted to say something, but decided against it with a small puff of air.

“Hey,” Adrien ventured, “Can I show you something on my computer? It’s this really cool video about how the pendulum works; it simplifies it well enough to be easy to understand. I think you’ve got the concept down, but if you still want to see it…” He shrugged, letting the motion complete his suggestion.

“That’d be great, thanks.”

Adrien offered Marinette the desk chair as he bent over beside her, wiggling the mouse and waking the computer from its sleep mode. He opened up the browser, revealing his homepage: Alya’s Ladyblog. Adrien’s cheeks warmed as felt Marinette jolt in her seat. Was she judging him?

“Y-you follow the Ladyblog?” She looked half embarrassed and half pleased, but he couldn’t tell why.

“Who doesn’t? I like to consider myself Ladybug’s biggest fan… well, possibly second to Alya, but mainly because she’d kill anyone who says they’re a bigger fan than she.”

Marinette laughed. “T-that’s true,” she admitted. “I didn’t know you were such a big fan.”

Adrien smiled. She’s the love of my life, he wanted to say. The only person he got to talk about his crush with was Plagg, and he hardly understood the feeling. Instead he simply said, “She’s amazing.”

Marinette blushed, though she tried to hide it. “I’m… That’s great that you think so.”

They were watching the video, Marinette nodding along, when her nose scrunched up, eyes narrowing. “What is that smell?”

Adrien was about to ask what she meant when the stench hit his nose like a tidal wave. Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no.

Plagg must have gotten a hold of an odorous piece of cheese and was eating it nearby. A suspicious scattering of crumbs leading underneath his bed made Adrien twitch in irritation and dismay. Where did he even get that from? The kitchen? I don’t keep cheeses like that in my room for a good reason!

“I—uh, maybe it’s from outside?” He knew she didn’t buy it, but Marinette didn’t seem like she wanted to argue the matter.

As if someone had heard his unspoken plea for a diversion, the intercom buzzed to life. “Dinner is ready, Mr. Agreste,” announced the cook’s voice.

The boy sighed in relief. Thank you. “Come on, Marinette. I show you to the dining room.”

The dining room furnished with a long table and far too many seats in lack of company. Adrien pulled a chair out for Marinette adjacent from his usual spot at the end.

As soon as the two were sitting, a server came, bestowing two steaming plates of spaghetti and glasses of ice water before the pair. Melting on top of the meaty sauce was a generous powdering of parmesan and an herb to polish off the dish. Even through his general impartiality to cheese, Adrien had to admit that the food looked and smelled amazing.

He glanced at Marinette, hoping the dinner was to her liking. The girl’s eyes seemed to devour the meal itself, and Adrien found himself suppressing a chuckle.

“I feel like I’m in a restaurant,” she breathed, smelling the salivating aroma. “It’s so... fancy.”

Adrien smiled and twirled his fork into the pile of stringy pasta. “I wish I could say you’ve never tasted anything better, but your parents’ bakery lives up to its title as the best in Paris.”

Marinette blushed. “T-thanks. I’ll be sure to give my parents your compliments.” As if she couldn’t resist it any longer, Marinette spooned a forkful of spaghetti into her mouth. Suddenly, she dropped her utensil onto her plate, hands flying to cover her mouth. “Hot,” Marinette exclaimed, the words muffled behind her palms. “Very hot!”

Adrien laughed, Marinette flushing a bright red while trying to swallow down her food.

Learning from his classmate’s blunder, Adrien blew on his spool of pasta before eating. The spaghetti tasted as delicious as it looked.

Adrien hovered over Marinette as they sat together on the sofa, reading from the book the girl was holding. With his face by her hair, Adrien could smell a faint trace of Marinette’s floral shampoo. He couldn’t see the furious blush on her face, and was too oblivious to notice her shy fidgeting and shallow breathing.

Marinette pointed to a line on the page. Adrien leaned in closer to read the string of text. “So, does this—” the words died in her throat as she turned her head to face him, noticing just how close they had gotten.

Adrien could count all of the freckles dotted underneath Marinette’s wide eyes. He didn’t dare breathe, didn’t dare blink, as if the slightest movement would shatter the moment.

Neither Adrien nor Marinette knew what it was between them. A strange pull urged the boy to lean in a fraction, to cup a hand around her neck.

A small sigh brushed from Marinette’s lips as Adrien kissed her, soft and gentle.

A flame caught on his cheeks, heat flashing up his neck as Adrien pulled back in surprise at what he’d done. “I—I’m sorry! I don’t know why I did that. I—uh—sorry?”

Marinette was frozen like a statue, eyes glazed over before she snapped back to the present. “No! No, no, i-it’s okay. Really. You were good—I mean, it was good! I mean—!”

If Plagg was watching right now, Adrien was sure the situation would be the topic of many jokes and teasing to come.

How unfaithful to his lady Adrien had been! If she knew he was kissing other girls, he’d surely lose whatever chance he’d had. But… Adrien couldn’t find it in himself to regret the kiss.

He’d come close to it before, for a class film. Chloe had barged in and stopped the two before their lips had touched.

Okay, so maybe there had been a tiny bit of disappointment then.

Adrien rubbed his neck. “I shouldn't have done that, Marinette. I didn’t ask. Will you forgive me?”

“Adrien,” she said, one hand tugging shyly on a pigtail. “It’s okay. The kiss was… nice.”

“And also my first,” he admitted. I was hoping my first would be my lady, but this is a nice alternative.

Adrien was curious, then, wondering if he was Marinette’s first kiss was well. The question must have shown, because she replied, “I’ve kissed someone before, once, but I have to say this is the better one. He’s a great guy, but not so great situation.” Her eyes didn’t meet his. Adrien tried to push away the tendrils of curiosity, but found himself growing a little jealous. Adrien, stop that. Bad Adrien.

He coughed, clearing his throat and his mind. “So, er, shall we get back to studying?” How he could possibly concentrate on physics, Adrien didn’t know.

After Marinette left with her new notes, Adrien called out for Plagg.

The kwami came, amusement in his eyes. “Did you enjoy your study date?” he snickered devilishly.

“It was not a date,” Adrien sputtered, the small sliver of hope that Plagg wouldn’t jest about the evening dissolving. “I was just helping her with physics.”

“Let me see… you took her to dinner and smooched! That sounds like a date to me.”

“Well, it wasn’t. Now, I’ve got a question foryou: what led you to believe that acting out was a good idea? You could have been seen. She could have known who I was! Adrien Agreste, A.K.A. Chat Noir.”

Plagg smirked. “I don’t think her finding out would have been such a bad thing.”

Adrien frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

“While you were cozying up to your cute little study-bug, I happened to find another one.”

“Another… Marinette?”

Shaking his head, Plagg chuckled. “Not quite.”

Adrien pressed on, trying to get a proper answer out of the kwami, but Plagg kept his lips sealed, for once.

After all, Tikki was his (and Marinette’s) little secret.

The next day at school, Marinette waltzed into the classroom more confident that before.

“Thanks for yesterday,” she said to Adrien. “I think it really helped.”

“No problem. I bet you’ll do amazing today.” The blonde smiled as Alya high-fived her best friend.

“No energy drink disaster today, Mari?” she asked her friend jokingly.

“Not today, thanks to Adrien.” Marinette sneaked a bashful glance towards her crush.

As the teacher announced the beginning of the testing session, Adrien thought to himself: Ladybug is my love, but Marinette is a bright, talented, wonderful girl all on her own.

And maybe, just maybe, he liked her a little more than as a friend.